-Ink the large solid egg stamp with yellow ink and then press onto an un-inked large polka dot background stamp, this is called a kissing technique and it will transfer the background image onto the solid stamp.

Sorry it’s been so long between posts, hubby got a great new job and things have been hectic!

I recently got the chance to try out the new Stamping Material made for the Silhouette electronic die cutting machine. This thin clear material allows you to die cut images and then stamp with them, very cool! The material cuts really nicely but I must admit I did have some trouble getting the stamps inked up well. Chalk and pigment inks seemed to work the best but dye ink puddled up on the stamps. I did try using a small sponge dauber to apply the dye ink to the stamps (instead of inking directly on the ink pad) and got better results that way. I love the idea of cutting my own stamp designs but I do wish the material gave a better image when stamped.

For my card I used a cute die cut set of woodland critters (I added extra details to them with black and white pens). Here are the stamps themselves. I’ll probably be storing them on acetate sheets in plastic sleeves.

Here’s a collection of new wooden pendants I’ve made. They are 1 1/2″ wide with a vintage book illustration sealed on a round wooden disc. Each has a sterling silver plated bail on the back for hanging on a chain.

This one uses a stamp from the Character Construction’s Bird and Bee Paperie line. I adore how the bunny’s tale is poking out in the back! The paper I used is My Mind’s Eye.

The next card uses stamps from Stampin’ Up’s set Just Buzzin’ By. I used a glitter pen on the bee’s wings and liquid dimensional adhesive (aka, liquid glass, crystal lacquer, etc) on the honey to give it some shine. I used Echo Park paper on this one.

I chose to do both wet and dry embossing on my card. I embossed the bunny from Lawn Fawn’s Winter Bunny in white on craft cardstock, I love this look, it really pops. I added some subtle color to his scarf and the sled with markers. I also heat embossed some liquid applique on his tail for a little puff. I used the swirl embossing folder from Cuttlebug for the snow and my background paper, adding glitter to the embossed swirl on the snow. The sentiment is from the Lawn Fawn Critters of the Sea set.

What’s that? The sounds of a Cricut?? That’s right, I just got a brand new Cricut Expression 2! I got it to review for Craft Gossip, you can read my complete review over there. (We are also giving one away, details in the link).

So I wanted to share the projects I made with it. The first is a card made using the bunny and banner from the Just a Note cartridge. The stamp is from CTMH.

This is the first scrapbook page I’ve made in quite some time, but since this machine cuts 12″ x 12″ I just had to make one It features pictures of my husband and his mom’s sweet dog Sofie who passed away recently, the whole family misses her a lot, she was a wonderful dog! Isn’t that die cut doggie so cute? It’s from The American Alpha. cartridge, the rest of the large background shapes and tags are from the Essentials cartridge.

This last one is a coaster, I got an inexpensive tile from the hardware store and cut black and white vinyl in the fleur de lis shapes from the Essentials cartridge. I was really impressed at how well this machine cut thick Bazzil cardstock and vinyl.